Dave Jones was seen at Fratton Park 13 days ago. Sean O’Driscoll has interviewed for the job. Lee Clark was linked by The News but he had no interest. Brian Laws, Mark McGhee have both thrown their names into the ring. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer saw his name come up last weekend and the current duo of Stuart Gray and Guy Whittingham have said they have no interest in the top job at Portsmouth Football Club but we are inching our way to a new manager and that man is going to be (if the rumour mill is to be believed) Eddie Howe.

The former Bournemouth and current Burnley manager has seen his odds tumble dramatically over the past 24 hours as the rumour mill got going. With a 50% winning record at Bournemouth and a very impressive 44% winning record at Burnley – Eddie Howe is a hot young manager whose teams play good football and succeed.

Howe, who is only six years my senior (it kind of makes me wonder what I’m doing with my life) was a former player at Fratton Park albeit briefly thanks to two season ending knee injuries in consecutive seasons. His appointment I suspect would be roundly welcomed by the majority of the Fratton Faithful as it would be progress with someone who has had two managerial stops in his career and been successful at them both.

Obviously there is one rather large issue that could still stop this seeming fait accompli from taking shape – the fact that he is currently employed and Portsmouth is not a job that Burnley would see as a bigger one. A lot of chairman won’t stand in the way of a manager moving to a bigger job but Pompey and Burnley are both in the same division and Burnley may well want a large sum of money for Howe to be freed to take the Portsmouth job should he want it.

There is obviously a way to go yet but all signs are pointing to the fact that David Lampitt has identified his man and now comes the hard work. I don’t think convincing Eddie Howe will be the hard part but getting permission to speak to him just might be. This one has legs folks…

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